Threeson to believe

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WES GILBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

Nov 2, 2008

, Last Updated: 7:48 AM ET

Barrick Nealy waited two seasons to celebrate his first CFL touchdown.

Cashing in a second didn't take so long. Neither did scoring a third.

The Calgary Stampeders second-string signal-caller scampered into the endzone three times during yesterday's 41-30 victory over the B.C. Lions at McMahon Stadium, making the most of an opportunity to showcase his skills after starting pivot Henry Burris was pulled at the half to rest his arm for the playoffs.

The funny thing is, this week in practice, one of their running backs, Rob Cote, actually predicted three touchdowns.

"It's crazy," Nealy said. "We were joking about that on the sidelines, but it felt good, man. Definitely a confidence booster. It really motivates me."

Nealy scored his first regular-season touchdown -- he has scored once in exhibition action -- five minutes into the third quarter, plunging into the endzone from one yard out. He called his own number again just over five minutes later, darting in from 14 yards out. Then he completed the hat-trick by deking a defender and scoring from the one-yard line on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

His line? Three touchdowns in 10 minutes and 11 seconds. Not bad for a guy who just leapfrogged former backup Ben Sankey on the Stampeders depth chart last month.

Sankey was scratched yesterday, while third-stringer Will Proctor saw his first action with the Red & White.

Nealy finished with one completion for nine yards plus 72 rushing yards on six carries.

While the team presented Nealy with a game ball, Stamps running back Jon Cornish also stashed a memento, keeping the pigskin after rumbling 21 yards in the second quarter for the first major of his CFL career.

Cornish admitted he was pretty excited but tried to play it cool after hitting paydirt.

"I didn't want to make it seem like I hadn't been in the endzone before," Cornish said. "I just wanted to just get it in there and just run back to sidelines, but it turned out I was actually on (special teams), so I had to run back the ball and then run back in."